68 pages • 2 hours read
Peter S. BeagleThe Last Unicorn
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1968A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Unicorns
Unicorns as a symbol represent innocence, and the motif of unicorns, or lack thereof, contributes to the theme of the Loss of Innocence. As Schmendrick describes in Chapter 6, “Unicorns are for beginnings […] for innocence and purity, for newness. Unicorns are for young girls” (97). This is why Molly Grue, who is well into her thirties and “prematurely old” (76-77), reacts so emotionally when she finally sees a unicorn. Molly has lived a hard life that has aged her in ways beyond just physically. She laments that the unicorn did not visit her sooner, asking “how dare you come to me now, when I am this?” (96). Molly’s reaction to the unicorn shows the way she believes the unicorn’s presence could have preserved some part of her, likely her innocence.
Unicorns as a symbol of innocence is reinforced later in the same chapter when a prince and princess attempt to summon a unicorn as part of their engagement. The princess asserts “If there really were such things as unicorns, one would have come to me. I called as sweetly as anyone could, and I had the golden bridle. And of course I am pure and untouched” (102). The princess associating her own innocence with the presence of a unicorn ties these ideas together.
The theme of the Loss of Innocence is also presented through the motif of unicorns’ presence in the world. At the beginning of the book, all unicorns except one have been removed from the world. The hunters riding through the unicorn’s forest observe that “[t]imes change. Would you call this age a good one for unicorns?” (5). This observation indicates that there is turmoil in the world that makes it a hostile environment for unicorns. Just like innocence cannot thrive in an environment of cruelty and cynicism, unicorns do not persist in the world the way it presently is. This idea is reinforced when the unicorn herself observes that “men had changed, and the world with them, because the unicorns were gone” (11). This link between unicorns and the dreadful state of the world helps to communicate the theme of the loss of innocence.
Schmendrick’s Magic
Schmendrick’s magic and his curse of immortality work as a motif throughout the book to convey the theme of the Fear of Mediocrity. From his introduction, Schmendrick struggles with his magic. His tricks, while still considered magic, often end with unintended or unexpected results, even when he entertains the crowds for Mommy Fortuna. Schmendrick manages to turn “a glass of water into a handful of water” and changes a dead rose into a seed, “even though it did turn out to be a radish seed” (41). Schmendrick’s mediocre magic causes trouble for him. With every failed trick, he must face the consequences of his mediocrity. He endangers the unicorn with his attempts to free her with magic, and he dumps water on the head of the mayor who welcomed him in town. He also unintentionally enchants a tree to fall in love with him. Though the severity of the consequences varies, Schmendrick still suffers from each of his failures. In Chapter 8, Schmendrick reveals that he must overcome his mediocrity with magic to break a spell placed on him by his mentor. This spell adds another dimension of stakes to Schmendrick’s magic. Not only must he face his own ineptitude with every failure, but he also is struck with the fact that every failure is another lost attempt at regaining his mortality. Schmendrick’s failure at magic and the high stakes that come with it help to convey the very human fear of living a life of mediocrity.
The Harpy
The harpy is a symbol for death. Her presence at the midnight carnival makes all who bear witness to her “feel the light going out of the sky” (29). The unicorn describes it as “the breath in her body turning to cold iron” (29). After one of their shows, Rukh warns Mommy Fortuna to get rid of the harpy “[b]efore she scatters us across the sky like bloody clouds. She thinks about it all the time. I can feel her thinking about it” (34). Though Rukh is not magic himself, the harpy’s aura and presence is so powerful that even Rukh can tell her thoughts are filled with death. When the unicorn warns Fortuna of the harpy, saying Fortuna’s “death sits in that cage” (35), Fortuna reveals that she knows. She understood when she took the harpy that it would eventually be the end of her.
The harpy threatens to kill all who are near it. Even the unicorn, who proves to be an ally to the harpy, is met with the harpy’s promise that she’ll “kill you if you set [her] free” (51). The harpy attempts to make good on this promise, but as a fellow immortal creature, the unicorn understands how to evade death. The harpy then kills Fortuna and Rukh, the sounds of which haunt the unicorn long into her mortal days as Amalthea. Though the harpy’s presence in the novel lasts only a couple chapters, her representation as death contributes to the main themes of the plot and creates character growth for the unicorn and Schmendrick.
Amalthea’s Name
In Greek mythology, Amalthea is the goat who nursed the god Zeus while his mother, the Titan Rhea, hid him from his father Cronus, also a Titan, so Cronus wouldn’t consume the infant god to prevent him from eventually usurping his father. Zeus eventually accidentally broke one of Amalthea’s horns off (which he then turned into the horn of plenty). Some editions of The Last Unicorn include afternotes from the author in which Beagle claims that the one-horned goat essentially becomes the first unicorn in the world once its horn is broken off, so the name is symbolic of that connection. The significance of the name could also be two-fold in that the goat has lost some of its former glory and beauty by losing one of its horns just as the last unicorn loses her beauty and magic when she is turned into a human.
